The right stuff:

Half the battle is ensuring that your lawn is planted with the appropriate kind of grass for your climate. Do some research to figure out what variety you should plant. With the right selection in the right climate, your grass can go naturally for extended periods of time without any watering at all.

Water deeper, water less:

Try to get all of your weekly watering done at one time, rather than in several lighter sessions. Most lawns need about 1 inch of water per week. Use some kind of container to catch water from your sprinkler so you can measure the depth and monitor how much water you’re using. Stay mindful of the weather and adjust your watering to account for rain.

Timing is everything:

Let your lawn tell you when it’s time to water. You can use an electronic soil tester to measure moisture, or you can dig a small hole and feel with your finger. If you’d like to prevent browning, when the color starts to dull and footsteps remain visible for a few seconds, it’s time to water. Be sure also to water when it is cool (early in the morning is best) to minimize evaporation.

Healthier Gear
All kinds of common school items have natural, nontoxic, or recycled alternatives. Make sure your child’s backpack is free of dangerous toxins such as PVC (shiny plastic is a giveaway—avoid it). Stay away from vinyl and stick to healthier, non-toxic plastics such as nylon, organic cotton, recycled materials such as plastic bottles, or all-natural options like hemp.

Avoid Disposables, Save Cash
Mechanical pencils, for example, can be used over and over again, reducing waste from the production and disposal of traditional wooden pencils. Be sure also to buy a reusable lunch box or bag and save on buying hundreds of brown paper bags.

Recycled Products
Paper is a classic environmental culprit: its production leads to greenhouse gas emissions and deforestation. Luckily, it’s easy to find notebooks and loose-leaf paper that are entirely recycled. Similarly, classroom essentials such as pencils, binders, Post-It notes, scissors, paper clips, rulers and more can be purchased in recycled form. Read packaging carefully to find recycled products. And don`t forget to recycle when you`re finished with it!

Don’t stress about making sure every item in your child’s backpack is completely organic—just do what you can, and every little bit will make a difference. Shopping for green supplies with your kid is a great way to share environmental values and teach the importance of an eco-conscious lifestyle.

Soft plastic toys, or any plastic containing PVC, are the worst ones for children, since they leach the most harmful chemicals, such as lead and pthalates. However, it is best to avoid plastic toys of any kind considering their environmental impact from start (plastic is made from nonrenewable petroleum products) to finish (when they end up in landfills and oceans).

The safest playthings are made of solid wood (not pressed, which contains formaldehyde) or organic fibers. Look for organic cotton, hemp and wool, made without the pesticides and chemical fertilizers that are dangerous for kids to chew on and major water pollutants.

If you want to finish a wooden toy, use a natural oil such as nut oil or beeswax. Mineral oil, linseed oil, and any plant-based oil with a strong smell are not recommended on the toys of children under age three.

The Container Recycling Institute reports that 4.3 billion pounds of the 2 most common types of plastic were wasted in 2004, while only about 1 billion pounds were recycled—not to mention the 4 other common kinds of plastic we come into contact with daily.  This means each person wastes almost 160 plastic bottles per year.

These staggering facts demonstrate we have a long way to go to raise awareness about the importance of recycling our plastic.  There are many uses for it.  Products made from recycled plastic range from clothing and carpeting to cameras and playground equipment, and scientists are discovering more uses every day.

Recycling is easy once you get into the habit.  Make a conscious effort to pay attention to which bins you throw your bottles and containers into and soon it will become second nature!

1. Lower your winter heating by at least one degree. If you can stand two or three degrees lower, then all the better. You will use less energy and still feel comfortable. Then in summer, let the air conditioning cool the house a little less. That’s a great start in how to go green.

2. Set your washing machine to wash clothes in cold water. Modern cleaning powders don’t need hot water, and heating the water is what consumes most of the energy that the laundry machine uses.

3. Don’t use the dryer to dry your clothes! That’s not how to go green. It uses far too much energy and it’s expensive too. Hang your clothes out to dry. The air is great at drying clothes – your grandmother could have told you that.

4. Compact fluorescent light (CFL) bulbs use 10% of the energy that a standard bulb needs and they last 10 times longer. So, change your light bulbs. And if you want to know how to go green in a bigger way with lights, check out the new LED bulbs. They can be twice as efficient as the CFL bulbs.

5. Use less water. Check all faucets for leaks and fix any you find. Take shorter showers, don’t bath, and consider getting a new toilet cistern that will use less than two gallons of water per flush. Standard cistern use some three and a half gallons. Using less water uses less energy and saves you money!

6. Walk rather than drive for very short trips. Use a bike for moderate trips, and only use the car if you really have to. Gas is expensive and it pollutes the atmosphere. Save on burning it and you will save on your money too, as well as help the environment.

7. When you have to drive, keep your speed down to around 55 miles per hour if possible. Your car’s engine will be running at its most efficient at that speed burning the minimum amount of gas. Practice driving smoothly as well. Don’t accelerate fast from a standing start, and don’t brake hard. This is how to go green with your car, though using public transport, walking and cycling is even better.

1. The office printer is one appliance in the work place where you can start learning how to go green at work. Paper comes from trees. Trees absorb carbon dioxide, preventing it from accumulating in the atmosphere and adding to the global greenhouse effect. You can cut paper usage in half at a single stroke by simply printing on both sides of every sheet of paper. That’s one example of how to go green at work and save money too!

2. Business travel costs a huge fortune every year. This is not how to go green at work. No one travels by bicycle, or walks to meetings. No, they travel in huge gas-guzzling jets, or along highways in comfortable cars. Business travel puts a considerable strain on the planet. The answer? Use video conferencing as much as possible. With a good high speed Internet connection and a decent web cam, you can speak to anyone anywhere in the world. There’s a good choice of conferencing software available, and all at a mere fraction of jet travel.

3. Work from home. That serves the question of how to go green at work by cutting down on office expenses. You heat your home anyway, and as long as you have the necessary communications needed to do your job, then why not work from home! Of course, if you’re a truck driver, or a circus clown, it may be more difficult.

4. Invoice by email. This is one of the simplest ways of how to go green at work. As in tip number one, you save on paper, and a lot of paper too. Let your customers have the option to pay online of possible. The more you can do electronically that has traditionally been done with paper, the more the planet will benefit, and you’ll save money too.

5. Use laptops rather than stand alone computers and monitors. A laptop will consume around 50 watts of energy while in use compared to a computer and monitor, which consumes around 270 watts of energy. Also, have all laptops set so that they go to sleep if not used for more than 15 minutes. Screensavers do not save money. Quite the opposite; they use more! How to go green at work and save a lot of money? Switch off all computers and laptops when not in use. If all businesses did this they would save enough to power the city of Chicago for one year!

1. It has to be said: the very best thing you can do to help the environment with your car is stop driving it! However, you may not have that option, so drive slower instead. Most cars perform best at speeds of between 50 mph to 60 mph. Not too slow and not too fast is how to drive smart, save green.

2. A staggering 20% of your car’s fuel consumption is used up just overcoming tire roll resistance! How can you drive smart, save green in these circumstances? Buy quality tires that get great reviews. They may cost a little more, but they will perform better. And remember too that under inflated tires will cost you more in gas bills!

3. Lighten the load in your car. I’ll bet there are things in your car’s trunk that don’t need to be there. Go through each item you regularly carry. If you don’t really need it, dump it. You can drive smart, save green with a lighter load. That will let your car be more fuel efficient.

4. Switch off your engine while you wait if you are likely to be waiting more than one minute. Restarting your engine burns roughly about the same amount as one minute of idle time, so if you think you will be idling for more than a minute, cut the engine. You’ll save gas and money – drive smart, save green.

5. Drive smoothly. This one shouldn’t need to be mentioned. It should be the unspoken part of drive smart, drive green. Erratic driving with sudden accelerating and hard braking uses up extra gas. It puts extra wear and tear on your car, which means extra costs to you and the environment.

Learning to drive smart, save green is largely common sense. If you really need your car, then learn to drive it responsibly and sensibly. However, if you can walk easily to where you need to go, then do so! Only drive smart, save green when you can’t walk.

That cell phone charger that stays plugged in, the DVD player that waits for the occasional playing, and the TV that sits on standby all night, these are prime examples of how going green saves you money – if you unplug them, that is. For even if the items are not working, they are consuming energy!

Another of the prime examples of how going green saves you money is switching from bottled water to filtered tap water. The average family spends some $1,400 a year on bottled water. And the worst part is that 95% of the plastic bottles are not recycled! For less than $100 you could get a high quality staged water filter to make your tap water perfect.

Examples of how going green saves you money are everywhere. Do you drive as fast as the law allows? You shouldn’t. Car engines perform most efficiently at around 55 miles an hour. If you combine that with gentle driving on properly inflated tires, you will save money and help the planet too.

You could always use a bicycle to travel around town. Or you could simply walk for those short trips. You won’t be pouring hydrocarbons into the atmosphere, warming the planet, you will save money, and you will get some good exercise at the same time. Walking and cycling when you can are excellent examples of how going green saves you money.

Some 65 million newspapers are printed every day in the US. Some 70% of them will not be recycled. What a waste of trees! You can do your bit to help, and read whatever news you want to read at the same time simply by going online. Very few newspapers don’t have an online presence these days, so save some money and read from the web pages.

Do you want more example of how going green saves you money? They are all around you. Just look and you certainly will find them.

Instead of getting a new bottle each time you drink water get some reusable containers. You can fill them up with water and even ice if you prefer and drink them everywhere you go. There are several sizes, colors, and designs that you can choose from. This process will significantly reduce the amount of plastic that is in our environment.If you do live in an area where it isn’t safe to drink the tap water then you want to make sure you recycle those plastic bottles. That way they don’t end up in landfills. You can also get bottled water delivered to your home in large containers.Then you can just fill up your own water bottles that you reuse from there. That is a great way to get healthy water and to eliminate waste at the same time. You will also find that getting bottled water this way is cheaper than buying those individual bottles at the store and from the vending machines.

When you complete projects in your home such as remodeling and painting you will likely have left over supplies. You aren’t going to be able to do much with most of them. Paint is a substance that you don’t want to place at landfills due to the chemicals found in them. They can get underground and do a great deal of damage. A better alternative is to donate that left over paint and supplies.

There are many organizations that collect such items to help others. This can be Church groups, community organizations, and specific programs so find out what is available in your area. You can even search online to find out how to donate such items to a worthy cause.The left over paint can be mixed with many others that people have donated. It can be used to paint houses, paint schools, and to make your town look nicer by reducing fences and such. This is a great way to prevent those leftovers from being wasted and from harming the environment.Make sure you properly dispose of pollutants that can be very dangerous for the Earth. It is common for people to change their oil at home to save money and to get the job done quickly. Never pour that oil on the ground as it will get into the soil. This is going to erode the ground of essential nutrients necessary in order for something to grow there.

When oil gets into the water it can result in aquatic life dying. This is very serious as it will upset the balance of the natural food chain. It can result in problems in that part of the water decades after it has taken place. It is also possible for the oil to get into drinking water if you aren’t careful.

We have all heard plenty of information about the warnings of skin cancer from being in the sun without proper sunscreen. What we often don’t realize though is that what is in that sunscreen can be polluting both the water and the air around us.You want to avoid using chemical sunscreens as they aren’t good for the environment. They aren’t going to offer you any more protection than those made from titanium oxide or zinc oxide. Read the labels on the sunscreen products you purchase and make sure you get a high enough SPF that is right for your skin.There are plenty of aerosol cans of sunscreen out there and you want to avoid using them as well. These types of dispensers can be very harmful to the ozone layers. Instead choose one you can spray on your body with a spray bottle nozzle or that you can dispense like a lotion and spray on your body.

Sunscreen isn’t the only type of aerosol that you should avoid though. Look for products to clean your home and even hairspray that isn’t going to be harming the environment. There are alternative dispensing sources to them so you aren’t limited to relying on anything in an aerosol form.